a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Bits from Dennis Lindsey Interviews, 6/14 and 6/21

How have the workouts been?
Really good. We, Ty[rone Corbin] and I came together.*

* #UDQM; do not visualize.

The rest of Lindsey’s answer:

And really through Brad [Jones] and Johnnie [Bryant], our development coaches, we’ve structured a couple things in the workout. We kinda married systems together.

I really like what we’ve done here before. I think Ty’s appreciated one or two structural changes that we brought, as well, especially with where our team’s moving.

And then the actual personnel, the response that we’re getting from the agents, we’ve been very pleased. I think there’s a general recognition of how unique our market is, how our team’s positioned, and it’s safe to say, you know, that everybody sees roster spots.

And you know, ability to play [immediately] is almost like a high school recruit as a freshman coming in. He’s wanting to know how much he could play, so I think the fact that we have some minutes and some jobs open for competition, you know, we’re just, have got a really good reception and we’re attractive destination for some of the better young players in this draft.

Why the Jazz won’t be drafting for need
As you get good players, you can then work your way out of situations.

If you [draft for need and] get a guy that’s under-talented for the position or, you know, who just doesn’t develop properly, or maybe lacks some upside, even though you address a need–I think needs are probably better addressed in free agency and in trade to build the team.

More Utah Jazz draft philosophies
We’re excited as we started to evaluate the draft…it just seems like there’s good players.

And look, if we get someone rotational, that, you know, can hold down cost and allows us to re-allocate those dollars elsewhere instead of having to go to market for, you know, a backup center, or go to market for a backup point guard, then we’ve, while it’s not the home run that you want in the draft, it, that would accomplish some goals and allow us to you know, allocate, you know, resources elsewhere.

Tyrone Corbin is just like Gregg Popovich
I just had a great meeting with Ty, and you know, he was, I’m not gonna get into specifics on a particular situation, but he was, he should’ve been very selfish from a coach perspective [and he wasn’t]. …

You’ve seen that he hasn’t thrown our vets under the bus. He hasn’t thrown our young guys under the bus. He’s just a positive guy, and I think the Miller family recognizes that they have a real partner. You wanna have a coach, and clearly, and we want to be highly organized and do things well, but even more so than that, you want a real partner…

[Coach Gregg Popovich] understood that you need to rest veterans even though it may cost you a few wins to preserve them, and develop the young guys.

So when you, from my perspective, when you get a real partner that’s looking past the next game, the next week, the next month, sometimes the next season, boy, they’re worth a lotta money, and that I think as much as anything, that speaks to Ty and his character.

On San Antonio losing in the Finals
I was a wreck. My stomach is still churning…I’m feeling the emotions like [Gregg] Pop[ovich] or RC [Buford], you know, Manu [Ginobili], Tony [Parker], RC [Buford], you know, and everybody else that I’m close to in that organization.

But you know, Game 6, it was, you know, the highest of highs when they looked like they were going to close out the Miami Heat, because I know all the things that they’ve been through to get back to that point.

And then when, you know, the game slipped away [in] Game 6, you know, I had a feeling Game 7 was gonna happen, and you know, the home team wins a large majority of those. And for good reason, the Miami Heat deserved home court all the way through the playoffs.

And so, yeah, you, you know how it is. You hurt for people that you love when, you know, they fall short, but you know, I texted with quite a few of those guys, and you know, their heads should be held high because whether they won the championship or not, you know, they’re champions on, you know, how they comport themselves and how they do their business.

And it’s a little bit like, you know, how I talk about Coach [Jerry] Sloan, and Coach [Phil] Johnson, and you know, Karl Malone and John Stockton. You know, they’re career champions whether they got the prize or not.

Best athlete available or draft by need?
Not best athlete; best basketball player. ‘Cause we’ll give on some athleticism to, if a guy really knows how to play or is highly skilled. And so it’s all those combinations of athletic, and skill, and humility, and hard work, and all those things that we think make the best members of, you know, the Utah Jazz…

There’s different ways to tier players, and look, if you got two players who are, you know, basically at the same draft tier, or you know, their level of contribution you think is going to be the same, and one fits a need and one doesn’t, there’s duplication, and you can go with need, but there’s other, you know, important factors that, and it’s really start to become subjective, you know?

One may be a great kid, one may be a questionable kid, but the quo–the great kid has a health-related issue, and the longevity of his career, you know, could be of question. So on that one, what do you do? There’s no right or wrong answer. Many times it’s when you ask the question.

So you know, it’s where hopefully, you know, what we can do, and many times what we’re acting as, is actuaries like an, in an insurance company where you’re quantifying risk, and what’s acceptable risk, what’s unacceptable risk. And as you guys know, many times in your decision-making process, you wanna try to incur as much risk as possible because there’s some, usually some upside related to that.

So if they’re a bunch of role players that are ready-made, and there’s one, there’s a player that’s not ready-made but that he has upside, maybe it’s the right thing for us to do to, is incur as much risk as possible and if it doesn’t hit, then that’s on me.

How far back do you vet a player when it comes to character?
There’s no way to quantify…I’m not sure, if I was good enough to be an early entry candidate at 19 years old, I’d want, you know, 30 teams digging into my background. I’m sure that they’d find something there where, at the very minimum, I was immature.

So you have to, there’s more than one answer, you know, as far as how back, how far back, like, if a guy has shown great work ethic; compliant behavior to coaches, to school administrators, to the parents; and you know the intel matches on what you see, you probably don’t have to dig in at, you know, 13, 14 years old.

But you get certain kids that, you know, have troubled backgrounds. And let’s say it’s just, you know, a one-parent home. Whether, maybe, no–you know, not great supervision.

So you, it probably behooves a team to go a little bit further back on, you know, what, and it may not rule out that particular player, but it allows a team to know, you know, what they’re gonna have to deal with and you know, help and raise, you know, the level of maturity from a young man to a man. (1280)